Warcraft movie gets acclaimed sci-fi director Duncan Jones

Duncan Jones has been announced as the director of Legendary
Pictures' live-action World of Warcraft movie.

The project has been in the works since 2006 when Legendary
acquired the film rights to Blizzard's franchise and was previously
assigned to Sam Raimi.

Commenting about the news on Twitter, Jones, whose previous
movies include Source Code and Moon, said:

"So the gauntlet was thrown down ages ago: Can you make a proper
MOVIE of a video game. I've always said it's possible. Got to DO it
now! ;)"

In a 2006 interview with IGN back when the project was first
announced, Paul Sams, COO of Blizzard noted that a budget somewhere
upwards of $100 million was expected with the project intended as a
"big, high-budget blockbuster" (although, as an aside, a low-budget
indie movie set in Azeroth could be a curious prospect).

Duncan Jones will be working from a script penned by Charles
Leavitt who also wrote Blood Diamond and K-Pax.
The details of the plot are being kept secret for the moment but it
is thought that they will not be tied to a particular game or
pre-existing storyline so it won't be an entirely WoW-centric
affair.

While the majority of discussion
on the Warcraft forum has focused on the choice to make a
live-action movie, the fact that it has taken seven years to even
reach this stage and whether or not the commenters have heard of
Jones' previous work, several expressed concern that video games
rarely make a successful transition to the big screen.

"I absolutely think a great video game film can and will be
made. [...] Really it's just about finding the key element of
drama, an interesting setting, a fascinating character that can
lead to an engaging story, and games have a plethora of these."

He added: "It can be done, and I think there are many games that
have great source material, but really it's going to take a
combination of great writer, inspired director, and a franchise
owner who is willing to let go enough to allow what needs to be
done, to be done."

According to the Hollywood Reporter which broke the news the film is scheduled to start filming in
autumn, 2013 for a projected 2015 release.